Wide Aisle Gate Research
Transport for London
Background
Transport for London were trialling the introduction use of wide aisle gates into the London Underground network. The gates were intended to replace the manual, staff operated gates for passengers who are disabled, are with children especially in pushchairs or have large items of luggage. The new gates were being trialled in the gate line at Canary Wharf and London Bridge stations.
Project
The objectives of the commissioned research were to understand the impact of the new gates on queing, potential conflicts between passengers travelling in opposite directions using the gates, identification of the Oyster card reader, potential frustration at the speed of operation of the gates, passenger preferences for the new gates over the old manual gates, fare evasion, quality of passenger service and design issues for individual passenger types.
Implementation
CCD conducted the research using observation of the manual gate use, observation of wide aisle gate use at the trial sites, accompanied journeys with a sample of wheelchair, mobility impaired, visually impaired, older users and users with learning difficulties. We also conducted in-depth interviews with LU staff and regular passengers and gained questionnaire feedback from passengers.
Outcomes
CCD's research demonstrated that the wide aisle gates were an improvement on the manual gates for all passenger groups and that the gate design, with some minor improvements, should be rolled out across the network.
The work successfully done by CCD has contributed to a step change improvement in the passenger experience for these groups of users who often find access to the network a challenge.